


They/Them/he/she

by orphan_account



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Agender, Christian parents, College, Cutting, Genderfluid, High School, I put my favorite characters through so much pain, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Necklaces, Other, Self-Harm, They/Them, Transgender, poor tyler, restrictive parents, sorry i suck at this, wow i wasn't expecting this at the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 06:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6227737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh and Tyler are in high school and they become friends in a homophobic school. No they are not in a relationship, they are just friends. (Although I imagine that after a while they may get into a relationship later, just not in this story.)<br/>Okay, now they're in a relationship. Just not in the first chapter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

       Tyler always knew he(She?They?) was different. He/She/They wasn’t sure that they were a guy, even though looking down at HIMself HE knew that HE couldn’t be anything else. But sometimes HE wanted to wear a skirt, or wasn’t sure if HE even had a gender. But HE knew that everyone had a gender, and HIS was male.

     Once HE had seen someone whose body was a guy’s body, but was wearing a skirt and makeup. Tyler's mother had pulled Tyler away from the man/woman and had whispered “Stay away from people like that. They are sinners and they will go to hell.” Tyler hadn’t seen it that way. The man/woman just been a person who had made a choice.

     Tyler knew that sometimes it wasn’t only adults who made choices. There was a person who looked like a girl, but claimed they were a guy to everyone. Tyler wondered who he was, the person who looked like a girl but was really a guy. They wondered what had given him the courage to make a decision like that. Tyler watched him sometimes. He seemed happy with his decision, even when people whispered things and left notes in his locker. Tyler thought that maybe the reason he had made a decision was to be free, to stop being stuck in a gender that wasn’t really him. Tyler wished they had the bravery to make a decision like that, but they were scared of hell and of people and of their mother.

      Tyler wanted to ask the boy a question. They realized that even though they had thought about him, they didn’t know his name. They walked up to the boy and waited while he opened his locker. He turned around and looked at Tyler. “I just wanted to know your name.” They said quietly. The boy looked at Tyler skeptically.

     ”Are you another one of those narrow-minded homophobes who have a problem with my gender? Because I am a guy, and I don’t really care what you think about it.” He turned to leave.

       Tyler tapped the boy on the shoulder, and said “No, it’s not like that! I just wanted to know your name.”

       The boy looked at Tyler for a moment. “It’s Josh.” He said, and turned to leave.

       “Tyler.” they said, and they walked away as well.

       Tyler was at the mall with their friends when they saw Josh. Josh looked at Tyler for a second, then he walked away. Tyler saw that he was hunching his shoulders slightly, and looked upset. They looked at their friends, and then they walked towards Josh.

       “Hey, are you okay?” He looked up at Josh.

    “Yeah, I’m just fine!” Josh said sarcastically.

     “What happened?” They said, looking at Josh.

     “I said I was fine! Just another great day in pariah land.” They looked at him strangely. “You don’t know what pariah means.” He sighed. “A pariah is a person who is shunned. You are the first person who had talked to me without using death threats and names in a while.”

       Tyler responded quickly. “They seriously said death threats?”

         The boy looked at him. “Yeah, mostly those are through notes. They don’t really threaten me with death to my face, just call me names and try and trip me and push me into lockers.”

         “I’m sorry.”

         “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you’re different. People hate what’s different, so they act like- wait, you’re that guy with the parents who asked my parents to pray for me?” Tyler looked at Josh.

         “They did that? That does sound like them.”

          Josh looked at the ground, “Well, if your parents have raised you to believe that people like me will go to hell, and anyone who helps them will go too, why are you talking to me? Are you another of those guys who is just going to be all nice and then spring something on me?”

          They didn’t know what to say. “No, um, you just looked upset. And I was wondering of you could call me they.”

          Josh looked at them for a moment, and then smiled. “Now that I can do.”

Tyler wasn’t sure when it had happened, but Josh seemed to be their friend. A lot of their old friends hadn’t been so friendly anymore, spreading rumors about the “boy” who hung out with the freak. They had better names for them, names that if they said would cause them to be in the worst trouble of his life. They weren’t sure when their association with the boy who everyone thought was a girl was going to reach their parents. They knew that they wouldn’t be happy.

When they were at church, they realized that Josh's parents were there, but they didn’t see Josh. Their parents walked up to Josh’s parents.

        “Good to see you again. How is your daughter? I hope she has reformed.” Their mother looked pointedly at Josh’s parents.

         “We’ve been trying to get her to, but it’s so hard! She seems convinced that she’s a boy, and frankly, we’re worried for her.”

            Their dad walked forward. “Nothing a good talking to and some hard work won’t cure. We brought our son up on work and manners, and look at him! He’s not saying he’s a girl.”

            They didn’t like being called he. It just felt wrong.

        Josh’s parents looked at Tyler’s dad, looking slightly offended. “We did try to raise Josie right.” Tyler wanted to speak up, to say that Josh was a boy, but they were too scared to do it.

         They didn’t want to say that they weren’t a boy, or a girl, but no gender. They didn’t want to have everyone shun them, have their parents pray for them and refuse to call them by the right pronouns. They just wanted to be accepted.

      They were walking with Josh one day when they had the idea. That maybe they didn’t have to say anything, maybe they could show.

       “Hey, I had something for you.” Josh said, reaching into his bag. He pulled out a thin necklace and handed it to Tyler. It said They/Them on the simple silver charm. “It’s okay if you don’t like it, or if you don’t feel comfortable wearing it. I just wanted you to have the choice to not have everyone misgender you.” Tyler smiled at him.

      “I love it. Thank you. I don’t know if I can wear it though.” Josh nodded.

        “I thought so, with your parents and the example of treatment of people who are different. Maybe one day you’ll be ready to.”

        “Yeah.” Tyler nodded. “Maybe someday.”

**Three years later**

       Tyler looked in the mirror one more time as they hooked the necklace around their neck. They looked at the unisex T-shirt and skirt they were wearing. They took a deep breath and walked into the living room. “Mom, Dad, I have something to tell you.”


	2. College

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really don't know what this is. All I can say is this is a few years after the first chapter of they/them/he/she, when they're out of high school, after Tyler tried to tell his parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really lacking inspiration, so this is going to be really bad.

Tyler looked down at them self. They were wearing a loose Beatles shirt, and a skirt over leggings. They were wearing eye-liner, and had a rainbow pin stuck to their backpack. They didn't look like the good Christian "boy" they were raised to be.

     Sometimes Tyler wished they hadn't told them, their parents. They barely spoke to them while they were finishing high school, and prayed for them nightly. Their parents stopped caring what they did, and disowned them. In some ways it was liberating to them. They didn't have to hold themselves to their parent's ideals. But even though it was in a way freeing, Tyler couldn't deny that they didn't like not having their parent's blessing.

     They looked down at their phone, seeing a new text message from Josh.

_where r u? I'm waiting outside dorm 3 for u. come ASAP!_

Tyler quickly typed in a response. 

_IDEK where dorm 3 is!_

After a few seconds, they got a response.

_Next to dorm 2_

_Not funny Josh._

_Sorry._

_I still don't know where it is!_

_Where r u? I can come get you and take you._

_Next to the main building, in the courtyard._

_Okay, be there in a few._

Tyler looked down at their phone. They didn't even know why Josh needed them to be there, but Josh said it was important. Tyler loved having Josh at the same school still. They had been planning on going to the same college, and Tyler was really glad that they had agreed on a college and they had actually both been accepted and able to go.

Josh showed up a few minutes later. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, so Tyler was glad, that wherever they were going, it wasn't formal. Josh drove them to a small restaurant and opened the car door for Tyler.

"I guess I should have probably asked before I did this, but this is long over due. Tyler, will you go out with me?"

Tyler looked at Josh for a second, and then responded. "Yeah!" Tyler had wanted to do this for a while, but had lacked the courage to ask their best friend out. Josh looked relieved.

"That was easier than I thought it would be. I thought you'd say no!" Tyler looked at him like he was crazy.

"Dude, I went to the prom with you as "friends", I went to the same college as you, and I am your best friend. Don't you think I like you at least a little bit?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaggh, thank you everyone for leaving kudos! I'm hyperventilating right now, because some of the people who let kudos I love their writing and am really happy that they would even read it. So thank you everyone, you made my day!


	3. Chapter 3

Tyler felt  ~~scared~~ terrified and  ~~dirty~~ contaminated. He looked down at the bruises and the blood on themself. They wanted to cry, but tears wouldn't come. They were alone in the bathroom, ever since the  ~~man~~ monster had come. They wanted to  ~~die~~ disappear. 

 

Tyler looked down at the red lines on themselves. They wanted to clean their blood, their soul. Their soul was so heavy, so dirty. 

 

The noises were so loud.

 

They just wanted to forget, to leave the pain and the hurt behind. They wanted to forget the person who had  ~~hurt~~ destroyed them. 

 

Josh didn't know. He didn't know anything about the hurt that had happened. He saw the red and the quiet, but didn't know why.

 

Josh wanted to know why they kept  ~~cutting~~ cleaning themselves.

 

Tyler didn't want to tell, but Josh wanted to know. Tyler told their boyfriend one night, and Josh's face was  ~~angry~~ furious at the  ~~man~~ monster that had  ~~hurt~~ destroyed Tyler. Tyler cried into Josh's shoulder, and they fit perfectly into his lap, even though they were bigger. 

 

There was a close call at the bridge that night, but Josh pulled them back and put them back together, because that was what Josh did. Josh picked up the pieces and glued them together the best he could. He kept Tyler together.

 

But the noises, they were so loud.

 

They were so loud, the voices. They whispered, made them feel so small, toxic, broken. They made them fall apart again.

 

Josh kept picking them up.

 

Maybe one day Tyler would be clean again.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I am sorry if there are any grammatical errors, I didn't have a beta, so any constructive criticism is appreciated.


End file.
